Sunday December 31^st, 2006 - Calgary, AB

Two big shows at the Comedy Cave tonight. This is the biggest night of the year for the comedy club business and it’s an honor to be picked as the headliner. Clubs like to have a big special show on New Year‘s Eve so they can charge more and make it a special event.

I am very flattered that they wanted me for this week. I was asked back in July before I left the last time I was here and that’s a sign I did well. It’s one thing to get booked into a club and something else to get booked back. It’s even bigger to be asked to come back for New Year’s Eve so I took it as a compliment and it is. It’s the highest form of flattery that exists. Club owners only book people on New Year’s Eve they are sure will do the job.

That being said, I wasn’t really happy with my shows tonight. They audiences were very friendly but they were a little older and not loud laughers. There is still a subtle difference between American audiences and Canadian audiences and they can tend to be sensitive to Americans being mean spirited or demeaning to Canada. I try very hard not to do that but I sometimes can throw a little attitude in the mix and I can sense that it doesn’t fly all that well up here. I tried to jump start both shows a little and get them going and I think it was a little scary to them, especially the early show. That was an older crowd and it was a big dinner show so they had just had a big meal and that makes it difficult also. They laughed but it wasn’t easy to get on a roll like I like to do. I had to earn each laugh with each joke.

The late show was the rowdier one but by standards of what I consider rowdy this was a trip to the carnival. Nobody got out of line and I had one ‘heckler’ who threw a couple of soft ball comments up which I easily deflected without incident on either side. No trouble at all compared to last week when that wanker wanted to rush the stage in Windom, MN.

The fact is I just find Canadian people as a whole to be extremely nice. There were lots of people who came up to all of us after the shows last night to say they had fun and they meant it. I could just tell they were sincere. They said Happy New Year too and shook our hands and smiled and it was like being in a greeting line at a wedding. It happens once in a while down in America but not consistently like this. They really do have a genuineness about them and it’s very refreshing. That’s why I wanted to give them all my best show.

I don’t think I was firing on all cylinders at all but the crowd was happy and a lot more importantly the owner Jack was happy. I could tell he meant it too when he came over to shake my hand after the late show and say ‘Well done my friend. WELL done.’ Jack and his son Billy run the club and also the restaurant business that goes with it. They are just super people and care about both their customers and the comics too. They treat everyone with respect and it’s just a treat to work here. They always make sure I have a full glass of whatever I’m drinking or a full plate of whatever I’m eating and I am very grateful for it.

I have to adjust more for the rest of the shows coming up. I can’t and won’t coast on my laurels, if indeed I have any to coast on. Being a nice guy is one thing but getting a crowd to laugh is quite another. It’s not their fault I’m not from here. I need to focus on THEM.